A mesmerizing night at the Róisín in the company of Will Oldham aka Bonnie Prince Billy alongside one of the island’s finest musical pairs, Nuala Kennedy and Eamon O’Leary. Photos by Ciarán O Maoláin
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Will Oldham, aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, releases his new album Best Troubadour this month, a collection of covers of songs by Merle Haggard , who Oldham describes as his “forever hero”. Yet the prolific Oldham is something of a hero himself to many, name-checked in songs by Half Man Half Biscuit and Jeffrey Lewis, cited as a primary formative influence on a young Arab Strap and covered by the likes of The Frames, Mark Kozelek and even Johnny Cash, yet he remains firmly in the “cult favourite” bracket, where in a more fair and just world he’d surely be subject to the…
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With Record Store Day 2017 next Saturday fast approaching, Aghagallon artist Ciaran Lavery is primed to to release his own contribution in the form of A King at Night, an EP featuring covers of Bonnie “Prince” Billy songs. The lead single from that, ‘New Partner’ – which featured on BPB AKA Will Oldham’s 1995 album as Palace Music, Viva Last Blues – makes for an exquisite, wonderfully reflective rendition, where swooning streaks of string, lush harmonies and Lavery’s impeccable vocal delivery marry in very impressive fashion.
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The music of Will Oldham aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie has always had a rusty quality to it, as if his songs were assembled with nuts and bolts that rattled as they moved, always slightly out of place yet somehow holding everything together. This has, by and large, lent to his previous releases having a consolatory quality, as if their rickety composition and his own quivering, fragile vocals provide some comforting projection of listeners’ most emotionally brittle, bare moments. That comforting aspect that has pervaded Oldham’s previous output has been given a far more meditative twist on his latest collaboration, one…
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A reverent hush falls on Bangor Abbey, as it must do on a weekly basis in a working church, and Kieran Gilmore, director of the splendid Open House festival thanks the assembled throng for respecting this “sacred space”. To be fair, he does not need to make the request too firmly, because the sanctuary is already silent, and the air is crackling with anticipation. It is not often that an artist as original and bold as Bonnie “Prince” Billy plays in this humble town but his delicate and strange hymnals fit the scene perfectly. “When you ask me to sing…
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With the now-sold-out largest music & arts festival in Ireland very much looming before us, it’s a relatively quiet week ahead in terms of gigs, but there are a few of doozies in the coming days scattered across the island. First and foremost: Electric Picnic – Stradbally Estate, Co. Laois; August 29-31 Unfortunately for most, it’s now too late to snap up tickets for Electric Picnic, but for those who wish to see out the Irish summer in style, there’s always one of the most eclectic bills on the circuit. For those who are heading, the Picnic contains some acts of…
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We’re big fans of Open House Festival and how they do things here at the Thin Air. With an extraordinarily tasteful penchant for the very best in folk, roots and Americana, the team have brought us some unforgettable shows ranging from the likes of Bob Log III, Deer Tick, John Grant to Lower Dens, Cold Specs and Old Crowd Medicine Show. As well as one-off shows and happenings scattered across the years, Open House really flaunts its wares with its annual festival events. This summer they will present two festivals, a Belfast festival and a Bangor Festival. The former, taking place from June 18…